Tesla Come Home! You'll Be Able to Summon Car Across Country

How soon will true autonomous cars be ready? If you believe Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it could be only two years until cars will be able to pick you up.

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While the Summon self-parking feature on Tesla’s Models S is pretty cool, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the company is working to make autonomous driving a reality much sooner than you, or many other car makers, may think is possible.

On a call with reporters Sunday Jan. 10, Musk said that within two years, people will be able to summon a car to pick them up, even from across the country, driving autonomously and even automatically recharging as needed along the way.

Later, Musk hedged his bet by saying that his predictions might be a little too optimistic, as current cars still need a lot more sensors, better redundancy and improved software to make that happen. That said, Musk remains confident that autonomous cars will arrive within the decade and will be at a level that’s significantly better than human drivers.

Other challenges such as the legality of self-driving, mapping and accessibility also pose a challenge to Musk’s bold timeline. But based on the amount of attention major companies such as Ford, Audi, and BMW put on autonomous driving at CES 2016, it’s clear that Tesla isn’t the only company working towards making this idea a reality.